The Mystic Holiday
by Advialoth
Summary: Adventures of the Technicolor Ranger: The Dino Thunder rangers send Tommy to Briarwood for a vacation, with no idea that a new Ranger Team is about to appear there. The bad guys will get more than they bargained for when they attack a certain 'civilian'..
1. How it came about

**The Adventures of the Technicolor Ranger: The Mystic Holiday**

The Dino Thunder rangers send Tommy to Briarwood for a vacation, having no idea that a new Ranger Team is about to appear there. The bad guys will get more than they bargained for when they attack a certain 'civilian' paleontologist …

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Some knowledge of Mystic Force will probably help make more sense of this story.

If you haven't already, you should probably read 'Introducing the Technicolor Ranger' which explains some background for this story.

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**CHAPTER 1: How it Came About**

Reefside, early 2006

Dr Tommy Oliver, master martial artist, former racecar driver, high school teacher, paleontology PhD, and Power Ranger extraordinaire stared out the window blankly. It was raining, and he'd finished marking the science papers for the next week. He'd written three new pop quizzes, tidied up the lab in his basement, tinkered with the Dino ATV, worked out for an hour and a half, and drunk more coffee that was probably healthy.

It was five o'clock on Saturday afternoon, but for some reason there was no school on Monday. Even worse, this next week would be the last week of classes before the summer holidays, and Tommy knew he was going to get very bored soon. Boredom wasn't good, because his imagination tended to run away, and a Ranger's imagination has very few limits.

Last time Hayley had come over during a long weekend; she'd been shocked to find him in the basement playing tag with the raptor riders. Yes they were big, scaly dinosaurs with lots of teeth, but they were his pets, and they were just as bored as him now that the ranger team had dissolved. True, they'd managed to get their powers back somehow, but that didn't mean there was anything for them to do…

Kira had moved to New York to continue singing, Ethan was busy at Reefside Tech, Connor was determined to start a soccer program for kids, and Trent had thrown himself into his comic book career. Hayley was usually flat out at the Cyberspace, which left only Anton and Elsa, who were so wrapped up in each other lately that even Connor had noticed.

So, Tommy grabbed yet another cup of coffee and headed down to the basement to talk with the raptor riders. He would have fed them, but the fusion-powered replicates didn't need it, as they were just small, nimble Zords. They seemed a lot tamer since he'd started to treat them more like pets and less like vehicles. He wondered what the kids at school would think of their science teacher having four pet dinosaurs under his house.

He'd even named them.

The Red one was Clutz, C for Connor, and Clutz because he was always tripping or knocking things over.

The Blue one was Exxy, E for Ethan, 'Exxy' short for Excited. He couldn't sit still, and was always twitching.

The Yellow one was Karol, K for Kira, but Karol because of the almost musical purring noise she made when she was happy.

The Black one was Thunk, T for Tommy, but he was slightly moody, and liked to knock things over. People, objects, and his fellow raptors were all fair game. Hence, Thunk.

They must have heard him coming, because Karol was purring loudly, Exxy was bouncing, and Clutz had tripped over Thunk's tail, although Tommy suspected Thunk may have done it on purpose.

"Hey." Tommy smirked at them. "Wish I could take you guys out… might make a scene though." Karol dipped her head to one side, Clutz butted Tommy in the chest with his head, Exxy bounced a little, and he could have sworn Thunk was smirking. Suddenly, all four raptors whipped their heads towards the stairs. Tommy ducked to one side of the door, and tensed as he heard several sets of footsteps creep towards him. Thunk growled softly, and that was all Tommy needed.

As soon as the first intruder came down the stairs, he launched at them with a blood-curdling yell...

"Whoa! Ease up Dr. O!" yelped Connor, lying spread out on the floor. Tommy glared at him. Ethan was staring at them in fascination from the bottom of the stairs, and Kira wore a satisfied smirk.

"_That's_ why Connor goes first." she explained to Ethan. Tommy turned slightly so his glare included all of them.

"You guys should know better than to sneak up on me." he admonished them.

"Yeah, but you should know normal people don't attack visitors." Connor shot back.

"Since when am I normal?" smirked Tommy. "But if it was just you guys, why did Thunk…" Tommy turned his angry gaze on the black raptor. "You knew that would happen, you wanted it to, why I oughta flood your circuits! You…"

The other three Dino Rangers stared as their mentor yelled at the little Zord.

"Boy, looks like we got here just in time." Ethan muttered out the corner of his mouth.

"You got that right." agreed Kira. Connor rubbed his shoulder with a grimace.

"Definitely. So who's gonna tell him?"

Kira shot him a Look. Note the capital.

"You're the Red." shrugged Ethan. Connor sighed.

"Uh, Dr. O?" there was no response. "Dr. O!" tried Connor again, louder. Still no response. Gathering his courage, Connor slapped his old science teacher gently on the shoulder. Tommy spun around and glared at him, then sighed.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you guys again, but why are you here?"

Connor looked uncomfortable. "Well, you see, we were kinda worried… I mean, you get well… weird sometimes, and we kinda thought… ah…" he glanced at the others for encouragement. "We thought you could use a holiday."

Tommy stared at him.

"You came all the way here to tell me to take a holiday?!" he almost laughed.

"No." said Kira decisively. "We came all this way to _make_ you take a holiday. Hayley's backing us up."

"Yeah, no offence Dr. O, but I think you need one." added Ethan, looking towards the raptors with a suspicious glance.

Tommy stared at them.

"What?"

----

_**One week later…**_

"_Briarwood?!_ What's in Briarwood?" Tommy glared down at his phone. He had stopped his jeep beside the 'Briarwood 25 miles' sign, having absolutely no idea what Hayley had planned. He would have understood if she'd sent him to see some old friends, or if she'd sent him to a holiday-type spot, but Briarwood looked… normal. Even slightly boring.

"Absolutely nothing, that's the point." answered Hayley. "It's nice and quiet. No colored work at all."

Tommy dropped his head back in defeat. "Hayley…" he whined.

"Nope. You're staying there for the _whole _holiday." her smug voice just about dripped from the phone.

"But Hayley…"

"No Tommy. You're going to stay there and relax. _Nothing_ will happen!" she smirked as she hung up the phone. Even Tommy Oliver couldn't find trouble in a superstitious little town like Briarwood… could he?

As a defeated Tommy pulled onto the road again, he didn't notice the black motorcycle stop just where he had been a minute before.

----


	2. More than a Broken Spell

Here we go… This chapter is a fair bit longer, but it's also all I've done so far.

**CHAPTER 2: More Than a Broken Spell**

Briarwood, early 2006

----

It took very little time for Tommy to book himself into a hotel. It took even less time for him to drive around the city. It seemed he was right…it was very normal. It bothered him. It was the same sort of normal that, in his experience, nearly always got shattered by something.

After browsing through an auto-parts shop to see if there was anything new he could add to his jeep, and soon realizing their 'new' stock was at least a year and a half old, Tommy decided to just drive around for a while. That was how he found the park. It was a nice park, reminding him slightly of Angel Grove.

Then came the Earthquake.

Even as Tommy dove for cover under a nearby picnic table, he knew something was very wrong. During his Paleontology degree he'd done a fair amount of geology, and there were no faults, cracks, weak spots or volcanoes anywhere near Briarwood. There was no reason for an earthquake, certainly not one this big. When the quake died down he stayed under the table for a long time, thinking hard.

After a good fifteen minutes or so, he made his way back to the jeep and pulled a medium sized silver case from underneath the back seat. As he snapped open the locks on it, he looked around carefully. Seeing no-one too close, he opened the case and selected a small black device which looked rather like a cell phone with a folding holographic screen. Thinking to himself that it was a good thing Hayley didn't know about the equipment he kept in his car, he stowed the case under the back seat again and flipped open the small scanner.

Tommy's eyebrows shot up as he looked through the readings, then he stared at the woods in the distance. Something strange was going on here.

With a determined look in his eyes, Tommy set off into the park, following the one signal the scanner had picked out in the town.

----

As he approached a crowd of people on the other side of the park, the scanner went haywire. Pausing just long enough to trace the signal to the elderly man in the centre of the small crowd, Tommy flipped the scanner shut and made his way to the edge of the gathering. It seemed some creature had taken the old man's brother into the woods, and Tommy suddenly realized just how superstitious the townsfolk were. No-one wanted to help…

"I will." called a voice from the far side of the crowd. "I could use a break."

Tommy caught a glimpse of a well built teen beside a motorcycle. The kid reminded him a little of Eric, the Quantum ranger… then again, maybe it was just the hair and slight attitude. He watched as another teen, who Tommy suspected was Australian from the accent, tried to dissuade the motorcycle rider only to have two of his friends decide to tag along. The girl with short two-toned hair reminded him slightly of Kira, especially her 'don't-mess-with-me' vibe. The boy with the red hair reminded him strongly of the yellow Ninja Storm ranger, Dustin.

Tommy wondered if he should help, but his suspicious nature held him back slightly. Something about that old man was just… wrong.

The Australian teen held a quick and worried conversation with another girl, then they both headed for a large black utility truck parked outside a nearby shop. Tommy gave a slight smile, and ran for his jeep. He'd follow them, but something seemed very familiar about all this…

----

Tommy followed the signal on the scanner and parked the jeep well out of sight. Grabbing his jacket and a backpack, he shoved the scanner into his pocket, tucked a Thundermax blaster into his belt, and loaded the backpack with a few more items from the silver case. With a wide smirk, he activated the power his black dino-gem had given him. He hadn't used it very often, but invisibility was a handy skill to have. As he crept towards the group, the other jeep pulled up, and the Australian jumped out with his friend. It appeared his name was Xander when the girl with short hair started to yell at him for taking her car. It soon became apparent that the two girls were sisters, as the shyer one pledged to follow them.

Tommy was close enough to hear the old man make a quiet comment about there being 'five', and he looked sharply at the strange man.

The small group started into the woods almost at once, and Tommy noticed that not far in, the scenery changed slightly. The quiet girl seemed to notice it too, but the others ignored her as the motorcycle-rider noticed the old man was missing. Tommy cursed his inattention, and pulled the scanner from his pocket. The old man was indeed gone, but there appeared to be a lot more strange things in these woods. He followed after the teenagers, and tried his best to keep from chuckling as the red-haired boy excitedly told stories of all the dreadful things which supposedly lived in the woods. The motorcycle-rider was skeptical… Then the scanner beeped.

"What was that?" asked the Australian loudly, looking around wildly. Tommy's eyes narrowed slightly as he took in what the scanner had picked up. Now was not a good time… deactivating his invisibility, Tommy strode towards the five teens purposefully.

"That was this." he held up the scanner. "And it appears the old man isn't an old man at all…" he glanced at the red-haired boy. "Your witch story may have some merit. Whatever it is, it's coming back with friends."

The five teenagers stared at him.

"Hi, I'm Xander." the Australian stuck out a hand in greeting and ploughed onward. "Are you another out-of-town person? These woods are…"

"Who _are_ you?!" demanded the short-haired girl, giving her friend Xander a look that said clearly she would happily hurt him if he opened his mouth again in the near future.

The scanner beeped again, more urgently this time.

"I'll explain later, now is not the time! Go!" urged Tommy. They didn't need telling twice. As the five youngsters shot off, Tommy jogged after them, scanner in hand, frowning.

Fifteen minutes later, they were tiring. '_Might have lasted longer if they hadn't run full-speed all the way._' mused Tommy critically. He glanced at the scanner again.

"I think we lost them, for now." he called ahead.

"Great, now we're even _more_ lost." remarked the Australian.

"Cool!" chirped the red-head.

"You are way too cheerful about this." gasped the motorcycle-rider, giving the red-head a strange look.

"So, who are you?" asked the girl with short hair again, looking at Tommy suspiciously. Tommy sighed slightly. "Dr. Tommy Oliver, Science teacher." they stared at him.

"Science teacher?" asked the Australian, his tone clearly disbelieving.

"On holiday from Reefside." explained Tommy.

"Reefside? That's where the last team of Power Rangers was!" exclaimed the red-head. "No wonder you know what's going on! Is it a monster attack?"

"Chip…" warned the shy girl, elbowing the red-haired boy in the ribs. They were still staring at him…

"What? Would you rather I'd left you there?"

"They would have been easier to find." came a voice from behind him.

Tommy whirled, drawing the Thundermax blaster and aiming it at… a middle-aged woman dressed in a strange white costume.

"And who are you?" he asked, eyes narrowed. The scanner beeped again.

"Hey, that's one of the Dino Ranger guns!" the red-head bounced excitedly. "You're a Power Ranger, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Tommy kept his voice level. "I still want to know who this is, and why she was creeping up on you with a small army…"

The woman blinked in surprise. "I assure you, I have no army…"

"You did." snapped Tommy. "Why did you bring them here? This place isn't right." the woman smiled sadly at him.

"No, it is not. That is why I need them."

"Who are you?" Tommy repeated.

"I am the sorceress Udonna." said the woman quietly, "and they have special powers, much like yourself." she frowned a little, as if trying to figure something out. "You are more than one."

"How do you know that?" Tommy lowered the blaster, but still held it ready. Udonna stared at him, eyes slightly out of focus, unseeing.

"You are many, many all at once…"

"Look, this is all really interesting," interrupted the Australian. "But if you don't mind, we really should be finding an elderly bloke and getting out of here, so if you could just show us the way…" Udonna stared at the tall teenager with one eyebrow raised.

"…or not." he finished nervously. Everyone jumped as Tommy's scanner beeped again. Still watching Udonna, he flipped it open.

"We might want to move again…" he said, face blank. Udonna cocked her head to one side. By now the teens could hear crashing footsteps getting closer.

"Anybody want to run?" asked the shy girl with a worried look on her face.

"Already tried," remarked the Australian in a similar tone, "but my feet won't move."

"They are coming." said Udonna, face hard. She looked sharply at Tommy.

"I can get them to safety." Tommy stared hard at her, as if trying to read her intentions. Finally he nodded curtly.

"Do it. I can always track you down if they don't show up, and trust me, I will…"

Udonna didn't answer, but pulled a long white-tipped wand from her side and held it in the air.

"Mysto Aerotan!" she yelled. The teens were suddenly whisked away by several flying objects which Tommy thought looked suspiciously like broomsticks.

"Cute." he muttered, then dropped easily into an attack stance as a large group of strange creatures burst into the clearing. "What are these?" he asked Udonna. They were strongly reminiscent of tyrannodrones, but slightly different in their features.

"They are hidiacks." said Udonna sternly. "Stand back…" brandishing her wand again, the sorceress caused several large explosions. Tommy happily picked off the few remaining creatures with his blaster.

"Now, where did you send the kids?" he asked, holstering the blaster, but still looking around warily.

"Come. They are in my home." the sorceress walked off at a brisk pace.

"You're going to turn them into Rangers, aren't you?" asked Tommy. "I've seen it happen often enough…" Udonna smiled softly.

"Yes. They are the Mystic Force of prophecy."

Tommy nodded thoughtfully. "You'll have a hard time with the kid on the motorcycle." he added. He'd seen it before, the boy wouldn't know how to handle what was about to happen, and if Tommy had judged his character correctly, he'd try to run, much like Connor had. Udonna looked at him sharply.

"You know him?"

"No. I know his type. He's a Red, isn't he?" Tommy grinned at the shocked expression that crossed the white witch's face. Tommy smirked slightly, and decided to see how much more he could shock her.

"And the Australian, he's the Black, or maybe Green." the boy was irrepressible, and unless he missed his guess, he wouldn't give up on anything easily.

"The red-head is a Yellow," Not for the first time, Tommy wondered why yellows were always so cheerful. With a few notable exceptions, most had been slightly hyper, too.

"…the short-haired girl with attitude is Pink," Pinks were always slightly out-there, be it in their attitudes or interests, in fact he'd sometimes wondered if Kira may have been a pink if given the chance, though he had to admit she matched both colors. She was a level-headed yellow, like Trini had been… Tommy pulled away from that line of thought quickly.

"… and the shy girl is Blue. Maybe even a water blue." She was calm and level headed too. Tommy wondered if she would end up holding the group together. It seemed she might.

Udonna had stopped walking by now, and was staring a Tommy in undisguised amazement.

"How many have you seen?" she asked finally.

"All of them." grinned Tommy. "I wasn't on every team, but I've watched all of them."

It took a while for Udonna to sort through the idea, but soon they were off again.

"It is here." smiled the white witch finally, stopping outside a tree. The base looked like the head of a dinosaur… or a dragon. It opened to let them through, and Tommy smirked at Udonna before using his Dinogem power to disappear again.

He watched invisibly as Udonna introduced herself properly, and the Australian tried to compliment her house for being 'woody'. Tommy stifled his laughter, the kid reminded him very strongly of Zach. The looks the other teens were giving him were also familiar.

"Where's the other guy?" asked the girl with short hair, looking around the large room carefully.

"He is here." smiled Udonna vaguely, and launched into an explanation about parallel dimensions and magical wars. The motorcycle rider, whose name was apparently Nick, was still skeptical.

As Udonna continued to explain what had happened, and why they were needed, Tommy wandered around the room. It was amazing how the magic based teams and the technology based teams always managed to have similar equipment. He noticed several computer screens about the place; even though he had a sneaking suspicion they didn't work quite like normal ones. He smiled as Udonna handed the teens a magic wand each, and dropped the biggest bombshell. They were now Power Rangers.

The moment was disrupted as another young girl came barreling into the room calling for Udonna. The sorceress listened to the girl's frantic whispers, then told the new Rangers to stay put, disappearing in a shower of white sparks with a snap of her fingers.

The new girl introduced herself as Clare, a sorceress in training. What followed was something Tommy had never seen before, and it had nothing to do with the unfortunate apprentice turning herself into a sheep.

The whole team quit.

Maybe the seriousness of the situation hadn't sunk in yet, or perhaps they were scared, but in all his years Tommy had never seen an entire team quit almost as soon as they were handed their morphers. At least, he assumed the magic wands were morphers… although they weren't like any he'd ever seen.

Tommy stared as they all left their wands on top of Udonna's Xenotome and hurried away. With an amused glance at the sheep, Tommy sprinted after the junior rangers. He had a feeling this might get ugly…

---

It didn't take long at all before the five teens and a still invisible Tommy ran into something. It just happened to be a smoking village, and Udonna was already there.

The people from the recently destroyed village were interesting, one looked like a fairy of some sort, several resembled goblins, one looked like a cross between an elf and Robin Hood, and many were even stranger. Tommy stood to one side as Udonna explained what had happened, that the Darkness would destroy everything in its way.

It seemed Tommy had been right; Nick didn't want any part of the problem. He seemed to believe that if he just rode off on his motorcycle the bad guys wouldn't follow. Tommy wished it was that simple.

That was when the monster showed up; it's crashing footsteps drowning out the chirping of Tommy's scanner. It wasn't an average monster either; it was huge, almost a third towards Zord size. Tommy gaped as the white witch told the teens to take out their wands. You didn't put newbies up against something like this on their first try; it was just asking to be defeated. As Chip explained they'd left their wands at the 'tree', Tommy stayed invisible. They needed some practice before they could take on something like this and win, no matter how good they were. There was a reason most Ranger teams first battled foot soldiers, they needed to adjust to the power. As Udonna morphed into a very fancy white ranger suit and charged the monster, Tommy's scanner beeped another alarm.

Nick's head whipped around in his direction.

"It's the invisible science teacher guy!" exclaimed Xander.

"Where…" began the shy girl.

"No time! Guys, we have company…" snapped Nick as a swarm of hidiacks moved towards them.

"Well, as I see it we have two choices." began Chip. "We can surrender and be destroyed…" Why did rangers always refer to death as 'being destroyed' anyway? Did it make the impending doom less painful? Somehow Tommy didn't think so.

"Or fight?" the shy girl didn't sound terribly happy with the idea.

"We fight." Nick was definitely a Red.

Tommy watched in disbelief as Xander the Australian told them there was a third option, he could reason with them. Tommy moved closer, this he had to see.

"Hi, I'm Xander." began the Australian happily, not seeming to care he was addressing a menacing hoard of small monsters. He even tried to shake hands with one. "We're not really from these parts, ay. So if it's okay with you, we'll just be heading off in another direction …" he suddenly flew backwards into his friends as one of the creatures punched him.

"I guess we fight." he gasped as the others pulled him up.

"Where is that science guy…" muttered the shy girl. Tommy wasn't quick enough to stop the hidiacks from firing at them, and the five teenagers were blown several feet backwards by the resulting explosion. Even as he ran towards them, Tommy knew he wouldn't be able to stop all the creatures. There were dozens now, and more were coming. Although the invisibility gave him a slight advantage, he couldn't be in five places at once.

Throwing hidiacks left right and center, Tommy made his way through the creatures only in time to see Nick go flying through some sort of tent, then get tossed into the air again.

Xander was managed to use a tree as a shield from the worst of the attacks, but was soon dragged away from it. Certainly not one to give up easily, the Australian brandished a small stool with surprising skill before once more being battered to the ground.

Chip was being thrown about like a rag doll, the poor boy didn't even have time to get up between attacks as he was dragged about.

The shy girl was slammed against a tree, and then tossed from one group of creatures to another with barely time to breathe.

Her sister seemed to be fairing a little better, and even managed to take down a few of the things, but couldn't hold out for long. Even as she was struck down, she kicked a chair at her attackers and managed to hit two. She was back on her feet in time to give a few decent kicks before she went flying again.

They had forgotten about the other battle, and as Udonna fell to the ground for a moment, she paused to call out to them.

"Just remember, to use magic, all you need to do is _believe_ in magic!"

Chip was the closest. Backed up against a tree, he muttered to himself for a moment, then yelled, "I do! I believe in magic!" As soon as he spoke, the hidiacks charged and the boy ducked. Tommy smiled as a torrent of yellow energy burst from Chip and electrocuted the creatures. _'That's more like it…'_

Chip stared at the results in awe for a moment and then called to his friends excitedly.

"Guys! The magic really works! Just believe!"

Xander was the first to react. Curled up at the base of a tree holding a wounded side, the Australian gasped out "I believe, I believe in magic!" the tree at his back shot out thick woody vines, knocking down all the creatures near Xander. Tommy's smile grew.

The shy girl was next by a split second. Kneeling on one leg with her hands on the ground, she screwed her eyes shut.

"I believe in magic." The hidiacks advancing on her were blown into the air as jets of water shot from the ground.

"Yes! I _knew_ she was water!" mumbled Tommy with a grin as another creature fell to an invisible punch.

"I believe, I _believe_!" chanted the short haired girl, edging away from several hidiacks. Suddenly she began to spin, and a bright pink tornado formed around her, throwing the hidiacks in all directions. "Whoa! I'm a tornado! And I'm pink?!" as she spun to a halt, she smiled broadly. "I _like_… well," the smile disappeared "All except the color."

It was at that moment that Udonna dodged a blast from the monster and nailed it with a jet of ice from her snow staff, freezing the creature solid. With a snap of her fingers, it shattered. She looked around just in time to see Nick get thrown in the air by a large explosion. "No!" she cried out and began to run, but she was too far away.

"Okay," groaned Nick, struggling to even sit up, "I guess I believe too." For some reason it didn't work. Tommy dove at him, dropping his invisibility.

"LOOK OUT!" Using the momentum of the jump, Tommy rolled both of them out of the way just as several of the creatures reached them. Standing in front of the boy, Tommy dropped into a defensive stance even as Udonna vaporized the last hidiacks with her snow staff, then powered down.

As she congratulated the teens, Tommy helped Nick to his feet, and turned off the scanner. One by one, the teenagers each agreed to help, all except Nick.

"Me? No way…" he was still a bit breathless. "I'm outta here."

"Are you sure…" Udonna tried to convince him to stay, but he was adamant, and the magic hadn't worked. Finally she agreed, and called on Clare (who was still a sheep) to see him safely out of the woods.

"I'll go with them." Tommy smirked as they all jumped; it seemed they'd forgotten him. "I'm not sure how good a sheep is in a fight."

----

"So, are you a Power Ranger?" asked Nick as the three of them headed out of the woods.

"Yep. Are you really giving up?" Tommy didn't want Nick to focus on his being a Ranger. He didn't feel like explaining right now. Nick frowned a little.

"I don't see how I can help, the magic thing just doesn't work for me."

"I suppose you're right, but maybe you could still keep an eye on them. Sometimes their magic might not work either."

Nick stared at him for a moment. "You think? Why would their magic not work?"

"Magic, any form of power, can be blocked, or twisted, or weakened. I've seen it happen." Tommy remembered all the times his powers had failed, or done strange things. "It happens to most Rangers."

"I guess…"

"Hey, it's snowing!" bleated Clare suddenly.

"That's weird, not a cloud in the sky." Nick stared at the sky with a slight frown.

"Oh no, Udonna! Bad, baaaaaad…" Clare dashed off into the woods again, while Tommy and Nick just shrugged at each other.

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Tommy as the two of them set off again.

"Well, I have to fix my bike." sighed Nick. "Then I think I'll find somewhere else to stay, maybe with my Grandparents."

"Tell you what, why don't I give you my cell phone number, just in case you get in trouble, or if you ever want to talk about all this." offered Tommy. He had a feeling Nick wouldn't be going very far, but if he did manage to get away, he might still want to talk about it. Nick smiled slightly.

"Yeah, might come in handy."

As they reached the edge of the woods, Tommy and Nick parted ways, not realizing they would meet again much sooner than they thought.

----

When Tommy got back to his jeep, his cell phone was ringing. As he picked it up, he grinned. He had fifteen missed calls, and they were all from Hayley. So much for 'nothing will happen in Briarwood.'

"Hello?" he flipped the phone open.

"Tommy! Thank goodness, what happened?! Did you get caught in the earthquake? It's all over the news and…"

"Whoa! Hayley! Slow down. Yes I was here during the earthquake, and no, I'm not hurt."

"But what happened? There shouldn't be any tectonic activity in Briarwood, certainly not on that scale…"

"It was colored, Hayley." smirked Tommy, using the code word for Power Ranger related business.

"But, how? There's no-one…"

"Apparently there is, I just saw them get their morphers."

"Only you." sighed Hayley. "You'd better come home then…"

"No."

"But…"

"No."

"Tommy, you said…"

"I said no. You sent me here for the whole holiday, and I'm going to stay."

"But they… you… what if you meet them and change something…."

"I've already met them. They're a magic based team led by a white ranger sorceress whose assistant turned herself into a sheep, they all tried to quit but only the Red has succeeded in that so far, their base is in a tree, and the enemy foot soldiers are called hidiacks. They look rather like tyrannodrones, actually."

"Sheep?" Hayley spluttered for a moment and then gave up. "You realize our team has been bothering me all day since the earthquake? They want to drive out there and drag you home, and they don't even know about the new rangers out there yet!"

Tommy chuckled. "They'll have their hands full. Seriously, I promise not to jump in unless they're in real trouble, how's that?"

"Tommy, trouble breeds around you!" Hayley shrieked. "Just your being there will make everything worse!"

"I'm staying here Hayley. I'm not helpless."

"It's not really you I'm worried about." she sighed. "Just be careful. Really careful. I'll try to hold back the kids, but they'll come after you sooner or later. Especially when they hear about a new ranger team."

"I know. I think they'd all get along well though."

"That's not the… oh never mind."

"Thanks Hayley." smiled Tommy.

"Just be careful." she repeated as she hung up.

Tommy's vacation was off to an interesting start.

----


	3. Code and Precedent Busters

And here is chapter three! I apologize for the wait, but my house is being renovated.

Some knowledge of Mystic Force will probably help make more sense of this story.

Chapter Four could be a while, but I'll see what I can do.

----

**CHAPTER 3: ****Code and Precedent Busters**

After a very eventful morning, Tommy decided to relax for a while. He found a quiet corner in the park and worked through several katas, trying to lose himself in the familiar movements. Around three o'clock he was interrupted as four teens dashed by and dove _into_ a tree. Tommy stared blankly at the tree for a moment, before realizing that it must be the new Rangers' transportation system. It wasn't a bad idea, using trees, but there are some places where there aren't any.

With a shrug, Tommy decided to let them be. He was sure Udonna could find him if he was needed. Wondering to himself what the problem was, he walked over to his jeep and grinned. He had set the scanner in a clip on the dashboard, and it was beeping merrily, there was a very powerful evil-warrior type several miles off and one dimension over.

At least the Dino Rangers wouldn't know about the Mystic Force until they started fighting in Briarwood, and it seemed the monster attacks might be mostly in the 'magical dimension'.

As Tommy drove back to his hotel, he passed a black motorbike on the main street, heading out of town.

----

Much later that afternoon, Tommy was wandering around an electronics store and idly wondering how much work it would take to turbo-charge a vacuum cleaner when his cell phone rang out a familiar six-note alert. Jason still teased him about making the old communicator sound into a ring tone, but Tommy knew several of the older Rangers used it, including Jason himself.

As he opened the phone, he idly noticed he didn't recognize the number.

"Hello, this is Tommy Oliver."

"Uh, hey. It's Nick." whatever Tommy had been expecting, this wasn't it.

"Well Nick, how's it going?"

"Uh, red. Very red." Tommy smirked. The teen sounded a bit put out.

"So you went back, huh?"

"Well, yeah. I was on my way out of town and then suddenly there was this… portal-thing in front of me. I could see the others, they were in big trouble, and…"

"Whoa, she put it in front of you while you were driving?! I have to talk to that woman." Tommy grumbled. "That's dangerous! You could have crashed!"

"Yeah, well I went back, and it worked! I'm Red. But the bad guy ran off."

"One of those." muttered Tommy. "He'll be back, watch out for him. He'll probably grow stronger as you do."

"How do you know all this stuff?" asked Nick after a slight pause. "I mean, the Dino Rangers were only active for a year…"

"You can be one more than once." interrupted Tommy, looking around the store suspiciously. Nick was quiet for a moment.

"So how many…"

"Six. Seven if you count the newest one."

"But how…"

"I was one of the first." Tommy wished he could see Nick's face. He loved doing this to the newbie Rangers.

"Wow." was all Nick had to say. It took him almost a whole minute to process.

"So why is you phone number so weird?" asked Nick finally.

"It's not weird."

"It's too short. How is 86669 a cell phone number?!"

"Because technically it's not a cell phone, it's an R-phone." explained Tommy.

"An R-phone?"

"Ranger-phone." Tommy whispered, even though there wasn't anyone else near him. "A friend of mine made them. He fixed them into the Space Rangers satellite system, so we have our own network and everything."

"Okay." drawled Nick, sounding slightly lost for a moment. "I was calling to let you know that apparently the whole team works in a music shop called the Rockporium. Maybe you can come around some time."

"Yeah, I might do that. See you there then. Good luck." Tommy smiled as he hung up. At least he had something to do in Briarwood.

----

The next morning, Tommy decided to visit the new Rangers in the Rockporium. It was a short walk from his hotel, but along the way he ran into Chip and Vida. The two junior Rangers had set up a booth on the sidewalk, and were vying for customers with a child half their age at a lemonade stand. The slogan on their banner read 'Heroes 4 Hire', and the two of them were talking animatedly about spell codes. Tommy smirked as Vida finished explaining her theory on how to get their upgrades.

"I don't think it works like quite like that…" he smiled at the two teenagers. They both jumped nervously.

"Oh, it's you." Vida had a rather surly expression on her face. Chip on the other hand…

"Wow! I'll bet you know how to get all the gadgets and cool stuff, right?"

Tommy blinked at him. "Huh?"

"You know… _Ranger_ gadgets." whispered the chirpy Yellow Ranger. Vida rolled her eyes, but couldn't quite hide her curiosity.

"Sorry guys… you have to grow into the gadgets." Tommy shrugged at them. "Maybe I'll see you later." he waved at them and headed on towards the record shop. It was only a few minutes later that he realized this might have been a bad idea.

The Rockporium was completely devoid of Rangers… and the curly haired man behind the counter was watching him in a decidedly creepy manner, as if willing him to buy something or leave. Tommy hid behind a display of 80's rock music, and ran for the door as soon as the strange man turned his back.

----

On his way back to the hotel he noticed Chip and Vida weren't at their booth anymore, but he didn't have a lot of time to think about it as he soon spotted Nick, Maddie and Xander. They were walking across a grassy area between several buildings.

"Nick!" Tommy called out to the newest Red Ranger. The boy turned and smiled, and seemed about to say something when a very ugly black bat-like creature decided to interrupt.

"I'll show you _real_ trouble!" her voice was almost a growl. The three Mystic Rangers immediately took defensive stances and Tommy ducked behind a pillar of the closest building, watching.

"Who are you?" frowned Nick.

"I am Necrolai, dark mistress of the Underworld!" the creature struck a pose, and Tommy fought to keep from laughing. It looked ridiculous.

"I'll handle this one!" smiled Xander brightly, stepping towards Necrolai. "Hi, Xander Bly." he grinned by way of introduction. "Whatever the problem is here, I'm sure we can just talk this one out." he even had the audacity to wink at her.

Tommy sighed, and wondered if the Australian was trying to be funny. He could forgive it the first time, but could anyone be that dense? If all of them were like this, then he pitied Australia if they ever needed to form a Ranger team. Then again, maybe it was just Xander. (-)

Sure enough, Necrolai growled at the Green Ranger.

"You wish." she hissed, throwing a bolt of purple energy at him. Xander was spun backwards, only to be caught by Nick and Maddie.

"Not a big talker I see…" the Australian looked a little disoriented, but Nick pulled him to his feet.

"Let's ranger up." ordered Nick, and the three of them pulled out golden cell phones.

'When did that happen, I thought they had wands?' thought Tommy to himself. He was soon distracted.

"Capes?" he mumbled in shock, as the three newly minted Rangers charged the creature. Xander went in with a high kick that Necrolai easily blocked. Nick and Maddie filled the void with a quick series of flips and kicks, all of which Necrolai dodged. She was surprisingly agile, for a large, black flying thing. Xander came back in and managed to hit her with a sweep kick.

"_Capes_?" mumbled Tommy again.

Maddie and Xander both swung at her feet, but Necrolai gave a strange squawk and jumped several yards over their heads. As soon as she landed the three teens were there again, swarming around her like angry bees. They seemed to favor flips and kicks.

"Why _capes_?!" Tommy shook his head. Of all the impractical, useless and stupid things… that was almost as bad as having a pool cue or a huge scarf for a weapon. Not that he had anything against Merrick, and the Ninja Storm Rangers had actually used their Megazord scarf pretty well, but still...

In the short time Tommy had been distracted, the battle had turned as first Nick and then Maddie were knocked down. Xander jumped in with a small weapon of some kind, releasing a wave of green energy that cracked along the ground towards Necrolai and exploded in her face. Even as she was blown backwards, Nick somersaulted after her, closely followed by his two teammates.

"Playtime's over!" screeched Necrolai, as the three Rangers landed, weapons drawn.

"Oh yeah?" quipped Maddie.

"We'll see." Nick brushed some dust off one of his gloves.

Necrolai suddenly sprouted large bat-like wings from her upper legs and launched herself at the Rangers with a shrieking peal of laughter, shooting purple energy ahead of her. She slammed through them like a freight train and soared up into a sharp turn, aiming herself for another charge.

Tommy had seen enough.

Darting one hand behind his back and concentrating, he felt the familiar weight of his old morpher settle in his hand. Bringing both hands straight out in front of him, he winced a little as he said the keyword.

"Technicolor."

There was the same rush of power he remembered, but it seemed a bit stronger somehow. Mind running on adrenaline, Tommy wracked his brains for a projectile weapon, and settled on the first thing that came to mind, incidentally the most recent one.

"Brachio Staff!" holding the weapon upside down, he twisted the blade. "Wind strike!"

Just as Necrolai reached the younger Rangers, a large tornado blew her off course.

"Who are you?" she screamed angrily once she had regained her balance.

"I'm annoyed." Tommy smirked underneath the helmet.

Necrolai growled at him and swooped, but Tommy had moved. As she flew past where he had been, he grasped the edge of one of her wings and pulled hard. Necrolai screeched as her trajectory changed unexpectedly. Without enough time to slow down, she hit the wall of a nearby building with a loud crunch. Tommy winced slightly.

"That's got to hurt."

The bat-like creature slowly lifted herself from the pavement, clutching one leg. The wing Tommy had yanked on now hung at a strange angle. She glared at the Technicolor Ranger.

"This is not over; I will have your head for this!" With an ear piercing cry, she launched herself into the sky. Tommy watched her for a moment, and was just turning to see how the younger Rangers were when Necrolai turned back and swooped on them like a falcon.

"Let's go for a ride…" grabbing Nick and Xander with her hands and Maddie with her feet, she started flying away. Maddie managed to grab at the wing which was drooping and gave it a sharp twist, sending Necrolai crashing into one of the nearby cars, but she quickly righted herself and flew off again, Rangers flailing in the air behind her. While she might not be able to gain much height in her current state, she was still fast. Tommy raced after them for a short while before stopping. He wasn't going to catch her that way.

He needed to find Udonna.

----

Udonna watched from Rootcore as Chip and Vida shot over the treetops on their Mystic Racers, and hoped they would find the others in time. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of falling books. She turned around to scold Clare, but instead found Tommy sheepishly restacking several of the texts that the Rangers had left out on the table earlier.

"You have just missed them." said Udonna carefully. She didn't know much about him yet, none of them did, but she could sense the Power in him.

"They're gone." Tommy immediately forgot all about the books when he remembered why he'd come. "There was this tacky looking bat woman, she took Xander, Nick and Maddie. I did manage to wound her though." he smirked a little. Udonna raised an eyebrow. If he meant who she thought he did… "Did she give a name?"

"Necrolai. Called herself 'Dark mistress of the Underworld' too." Tommy thought he did a fairly good impression of the creature's annoyingly breathy and grating voice. "Do you have any idea just how many stupid 'underworlds' there are? I've lost count." Udonna's other eyebrow shot up. Necrolai was a worthy foe, he must be very good to have hurt her in their first battle.

"She fed them to Mucor, a monster of giant proportions." said Udonna sadly. "Chip and Vida have gone to rescue them."

"Good." said Tommy. "I'm not sure which, if any, of my Zords still work, and I'd rather not have to find out I need something I haven't got."

"Perhaps we can talk then, while we wait for them." suggested Udonna.

"I guess, about what exactly?" Tommy was looking curiously about the room.

"I think I would like to know you." said Udonna carefully, slowly, tasting her words before she spoke. "And to know more about Rangers. I feel the Mystic Force are different, less anchored to the Human Realm than others have been."

Tommy nodded thoughtfully. "I've never really been on a totally magical team, all of ours in the beginning were mostly technology with a little magic to make it all work together, I think. Maybe the Zeo crystals were…" he was interrupted by a strange sound, like a gong echoing through thick fog. Udonna hurried to the table in the middle of the room and stared at a crystal globe in the center. Tommy looked closer and smiled. It was nice to see something like the viewing globe again.

The crystal ball showed the Rangers. Already morphed, they looked as thought they were morphing again, and Tommy soon realized they were. They were _becoming_ Zords.

Five huge stylized creatures now stood where the Rangers had been. They began calling out their names, and Tommy tried to file it all away to tell Hayley later. There was a Green Minotaur, a small Pink Sprite hovering over the Minotaur's shoulders, a Blue Mermaid whose tail could apparently split to form legs, a Yellow bird-mad hybrid that proudly called itself a Garuda, and a Red Phoenix that looked nothing like a phoenix at all. It was simply man-shaped, rather like Jason's old Red Dragon Thunderzord in warrior mode.

"They have done it." smiled Udonna. "They have accessed the Titans."

"Shouldn't take long then. First Zord battles never do." he smiled at the globe and turned back to Udonna.

"So, how about we trade questions 'till they get back?"

----

As Chip, Maddie, Vida and Xander entered Rootcore, they could hear voices.

"So how did you manage to get them back?" Udonna was asking.

"Trini finally managed to feed it some hot chilies she'd hidden in a sandwich, and it threw up our weapons. That was certainly one of the weirder monsters… although most of our trips to other places turned out really strange, especially the ones to other dimensions."

Maddie peeked around the archway and saw Udonna and Tommy were sitting at the table talking. Chip and Xander walked straight in.

"That was totally awesome!" Chip was saying.

"Yeah." Xander agreed. "Those Titans are pretty cool."

Udonna stood to face them but Tommy stayed where he was, giving the team a lop-sided smirk, as if he knew exactly what was going on. Maddie realized he probably did.

"I'm proud of you all." Udonna smiled. "And you've only begun to tap into the potential of the Mystic Titans."

"Yeah, but now green freak is gone, right? So it's all good in the woods?" Maddie seemed uncertain.

"Well, let's hope so." Xander actually sounded serious. "I mean, we still don't know if that was the same creature that attacked Clare."

"Nick's investigating that." said Udonna, a strange tone in her voice.

"Well, what else could it have been?" asked Chip.

"You probably don't want to know." answered Tommy dryly.

Suddenly four cell phones rang out, and the crystal ball lit up. Xander nodded to the others and flipped open his phone. "Hello? Thi…"

Nick's voice interrupted quickly. "Guys, I think I found what I was looking for!"

He sounded out of breath, and as the crystal ball cleared slowly, they could see why. He was running flat out through the forest, with a large trail of disturbed earth following him. It almost looked like he was being chased by a giant burrowing Bugs Bunny.

"_What_ is he running from?!" asked Xander, staring at the globe in disbelief.

"I don't know." Vida's voice had a hard edge to it. "But he needs help."

Tommy smiled to himself as the four of them dashed out again.

He and Udonna both settled in to watch the crystal ball, Nick had just morphed, and a huge worm-like creature had burst from the ground. Nick pulled his weapon, a fancy long sword, but obviously had only a vague idea of how to use it, and missed several good opportunities before the creature knocked him down and reared for a final strike.

Thankfully Xander knew a little more about his weapon, an axe-like contraption, and blocked the super-worm before it could swallow his leader. The worm dove back into the ground, and the other Rangers crowded around to congratulate Xander. They were almost shaken off their feet as the creature burst from the ground again. At first glance, it appeared to have brought its friends, but Tommy quickly realized it had more than one head. In fact, it had eight.

Once more, the Rangers morphed into their Zords, the Titans, but this time four of them started to join together.

"Megazord." mumbled Tommy to himself.

But it wasn't quite.

When the lightshow faded, the four Titans had formed a dragon. The Red Titan quickly launched himself into the air and sat behind the wings of the dragon, wobbling dangerously for a moment. The battle that followed was rather short, maybe only a minute or two.

"I have to say, that is one of the more interesting Zord combinations I've seen in a while." Tommy observed.

"Are they not usually combined?" asked Udonna, fixing him with one of her faintly unnerving stares, eyebrows raised slightly.

"Yeah, but usually they all combine to make one giant humanoid Megazord." Tommy explained. "Only rarely will several combine to form something else on their own."

"The Titans will eventually form what you describe, but many times before in our realm, teams have been split. The last team of Mystics lost their leader several times, and in the end, several were gone for good." she had a far off look in her eyes, as if remembering someone dear to her. Tommy knew those looks quite well.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Udonna's quick answer seemed to snap her out of the memories. "I have things I must attend to."

"I'll see you around then." Tommy nodded and headed out of Rootcore.

As he turned the corner into the street his hotel was on, he noticed an oddly placed, very realistic statue, but didn't think any more of it.

----

_(-) (No offence to Australians. I am one myself, and Xander is strange even for us. However, if he was one of the only ones you'd ever met, well… think about it.) _

----

Well, there it is. Comments? Suggestions? Want something changed? There's a neat little button down the bottom left corner of the screen…


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